How to react to Lebanese wanting to fight with the PMU

Lebanese public opinion has not paid much attention to a news report that members of the Zuaiter clan in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon have expressed their willingness to fight alongside the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in Mosul, Iraq. The news went almost unnoticed. Only a pro-PMU Iraqi TV station conducted interviews with members of the clan who confirmed they are ready to fight in Iraq.
Only those who expressed such willingness will bear the consequences, but this does not negate the fact that these clan members provide an atmosphere for the incubation of Hezbollah and support the militia’s fight alongside the Syrian regime. They could not have expressed this position unless they felt they were backed by Hezbollah or at least would not face opposition.
If young men from Tripoli or Sidon said they would infiltrate the borders of another state to fight alongside Daesh or any other Islamist militant organization, it would surely stir media and public opinion. Under the pretext of preventing fighters in Lebanon from infiltrating neighboring states, the Lebanese Army is building an isolation wall around Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, Syrian refugee camps and all areas where fighters could infiltrate.
It is Lebanon’s duty to prevent its citizens, or whoever stays on its soil, from infiltrating borders or fighting with any other side. However, in the case of the Beqaa tribes, we are again confronted by the same old problem: Hezbollah and its incubating environment is the controlling power on the ground due to Iranian support. It is the power that violates Lebanese borders, and is tolerated if it declares its intent to do so.
Hezbollah has established its place in Syria by sending hundreds of Lebanese young men to the battle there. News about Lebanese readying to fight beside Iraq’s PMU has been emerging. Nobody will resist them.
The same would be true if other young men decide to fight in Yemen or even Bahrain; they would proceed under the protection of Hezbollah and Iran, which would give necessary justifications for the violation, such as defending holy shrines or fighting takfiri militants.
Whoever hears the Beqaa tribes’ expressed eagerness to fight in Iraq could underestimate it as empty propaganda or a show to stir feelings. However, is that not how divisions and wars start? Is that not what led us to the status quo? The PMU’s imagined heroic actions and ideals marketed by Hezbollah have been shown to be fake, since frequent major violations have been discovered and condemned by independent international organizations.
The latest example of these violations was unveiled a few days ago by Amnesty International, which revealed that after two years of field survey, the PMU committed human rights violations including torture, forced disappearance and illegal executions.
The cheap propaganda by some Lebanese who want to fight with the PMU is adding oil to flammable sectarian feelings in the country. Ignoring these matters and failing to address them will deepen discord, lead to new levels of conflict, and sink Lebanon into deeper waters.